Don't Eat With Your Mouth Full

Where can we live but days?

I've been using a scanner to get the pictures in these tasting notes, but today's snack didn't come out too well, not being flat enough. (It was definitely one to be counted by the -hon rather than the -mai...)

Sorry about that - but you can find better pictures here. Anyway, this packet of sweets is called Ramune, after the well-known Japanese fizzy drink. The drink tastes a bit like lemonade, which isn't surprising, because that's what it was based on when it was invented in the nineteenth century, as it happens by a Scot who was living in Kobe at the time. It's famous for having a glass marble inside the bottle to act as a stopper - a feature once common in fizzy drinks (and, as it happens, invented by an Englishman), but now a novelty. This sweet bottle's shape copies that of the iconic drink.

The sweets are quite (though not completely) round, and have the slightly chalky texture of Love Hearts, but rather softer. They're not fizzy, but they do taste of lemon, and are surprisingly moreish. Of course, I was only going to have one or two, but I ate them at a sitting.